'59 Plymouth Forum

This was a real beauty that showed up at a local show my car club put on yesterday. The fellow is from nearby and has owned the car from new. He ordered it with a three speed with overdrive and said the dealer wouldn't let him have a 361 cause it would have too much torque for the OD tranny. Thought the history was really interesting also. Evidentlty he had it on loan last year to the N.E. Classic Car Museum wich is really worth a look see if in the area. I'm overdue fo a revisit. Read the attach with history if you can. Oh yea it has the glove box tag with his name.!!

Yes, this is a fabulous car -- I saw it at Hershey in 2004, but Richard was nowhere to be found. From my email, it looks like we've spoken by phone, but he never replied to my email for pix... Can't find mine from Hershey. Thanks for these.

Amazing, too -- the daughter of Faulkner's owner was also born in the front seat! What is it about these '59's and birthing babies...

Dan

Wow, a neat car and a one owner car to boot. neat that one of his kids were born in the car and then used at their weddings.

I was wondering about his statement on the Placard about his 59 being the 30th annivesary car, While I had always believed that Plymouth made the first model in 1929. I now have to reconsider this.
I just saw a 1928 Plymouth Model Q , 4 door sedan several weeks ago here in Denver at the Mopars at Thunder Mountain Car show and the owner had a letter from a Chrysler Official back in the early 80's saying that it was in fact a 1928 model year. I guess it was a very brief run of the Model Q's before the went to the actual 1929 Model U most of us knew as the first Plymouth.

Anyone know anything else about this 1928 Model Q? I kinda like that our 59's were the 30th annivesary car but it may be the 31st anniversary car in hind site.

John Q

From the Standard Catalog of Chrysler (Krause Publications), the Plymouth name debuted at Madison Square Garden in July 1928. (Its dealers across the country dressed as Pilgrims. )
The Model Q was introduced and sold as a 1929 model. Jim Benjaminson wrote that the Model Q was sold thruout the remainder of the year, and known as the 1929 Plymouth.
The Plymouth name will turn 80 years old next Tuesday,July 7, 2009.

Roger, I will try to get this copy of the letter from Chrysler that the owner has that corrects that they now consider it a 28 model year. It was news to me. I always thought it was the 29 model year was the first. Being an former Chrysler employee in the 70's and 80's and what we knew as being the first Plymouth. Till the owner produced this letter on the spot, on Chrysler letterhead from Chrysler saying they now consider the first run of the Model Q's as 1928 models.Albeit short lived before the Model U's came out. Looked pretty offical to me. Walter P. I believe he gave the 2nd Model Q to to Henry Ford as a way of getting under his skin, so that car may still exist in the Henry Ford Musuem in Deaborn. I will send them an email on that car to see if they still have it. And see what year they are carrying it as.

Somewhere I wrote down his name and number and will see if I can scan a copy of this letter to him. I will advise if I can find the guy again. I gave him a flyer to my local Chrylser club show in August, maybe he will show up then if he has not sold the car.

All I know is that I saw the car (which was for sale) and the letter which seems to validate if Chrysler now (or has) considered the Model Q a 28 (letter was dated in the late 80's I believe).

Maybe Octie Hamm at the Chrysler Historical Museum can lend a hand on this. It doesn't matter to me either way, just an oddity which needs more looking into. Since I saw the original Chyrsler letter I would tend to believe that Chrysler for some reason considers it a short run 1928 Model. And then came out with the Model U a month later as a true 1929.

I would be (and was) skeptical on the subject and was till the owner showed me the letter from Chrysler on it. So, I guess anyone else should be skeptical too. It kinda messes up what we believed was true.

It will be a moot point till I find the owner and his letter. Till then, we will still consider the 29 the first year of the Plymouth.



John Q.

I think what Jim Benjaminson was trying to convey was that Chrysler wasn't too good with model identity in those early years.
"The new model Q Plymouth, although sold throughout the remainder of the year 1928 was actually considered by the Corporation to be a 1929 model, but with no definite Corporation guidelines, the Q and ensuing models though 1931 suffered from a lack of model year identity."*
So if present-day Chrysler Historical has at last taken a firm position on the Q, so be it. I do not need any verification.
Interesting...Octie Hamm WORKS for Chrysler Historical???.
*Jim Benjaminson

Roger, great story about your SF Convertible car in the Recent Plymouth Monthly that Dan just posted.

In scanning the entire publication it also mentions, in a couple places, of the existence and confirimation of the 1928 Model Q that you and I discussed earlier this year (It is on the Inflation Guide page and a couple pages later an actual picture of a Plymouth club members 1928 Model Q)

I still have not found the guy I saw this summer in Denver with his Model Q he was trying to sell but I guess he was right that the Model Q is now considered 1928 model. The Plymouth Club seems to support and accept this notion that the Model Q was a 1928 model, albeit a extremely short run before the Model U came out.

Now our cars are a year older in the Plymouth lineage. I don't know if that is good or bad. I have told people for years that 1929 was the first year. Now I have to be retrained! I have another friend who has a 29 model (was his grandfather's car brand new) and now I will have to print out the Plymouth publication to prove it to him.He won't believe it either.

John Q.



John Q.